No tolerance for negligence: Emergency meeting to review polio cases
The meeting directed district health managers to ensure the achievement of polio campaign targets
PHOTO: AFP
PESHAWAR:
An emergency meeting chaired by Minister for Health Shahram Tarakai was held on Thursday to review the three new cases of poliovirus that recently surfaced in the province. The meeting analysed various factors behind the existence of the virus despite rigorous polio campaigns. Participants at the meeting said three new polio cases—two Afghan refugee children living in Hangu and Nowshera, and one child in Shaheen Muslim Town of Peshawar—had emerged.
The participants were told refusals by parents to immunise their children against poliovirus, unavailability of children at their houses during campaigns and insufficient immunisation coverage in some areas were the main factors behind the recent cases.
Tarakai directed Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) officials to initiate action against authorities responsible for inadequate immunisation coverage and said when provincial government was “in the final and crucial stage of eradicating polio” by the end of 2016, it cannot afford any kind of negligence. The meeting decided to review a micro plan for polio vaccination in affected union councils (UC) and to focus more on high-risk UCs in upcoming campaigns.
It was pointed out besides few high-risk pockets of K-P, polio campaigns in the rest of the province yielded satisfactory results.
The meeting directed district health managers to ensure the achievement of polio campaign targets according to measurable performance indicators developed under the National Action Plan. The chair also directed EOC officials and district health officers to personally visit UCs and involve locally-elected representatives to make polio campaigns effective and result-oriented.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 4th, 2016.
An emergency meeting chaired by Minister for Health Shahram Tarakai was held on Thursday to review the three new cases of poliovirus that recently surfaced in the province. The meeting analysed various factors behind the existence of the virus despite rigorous polio campaigns. Participants at the meeting said three new polio cases—two Afghan refugee children living in Hangu and Nowshera, and one child in Shaheen Muslim Town of Peshawar—had emerged.
The participants were told refusals by parents to immunise their children against poliovirus, unavailability of children at their houses during campaigns and insufficient immunisation coverage in some areas were the main factors behind the recent cases.
Tarakai directed Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) officials to initiate action against authorities responsible for inadequate immunisation coverage and said when provincial government was “in the final and crucial stage of eradicating polio” by the end of 2016, it cannot afford any kind of negligence. The meeting decided to review a micro plan for polio vaccination in affected union councils (UC) and to focus more on high-risk UCs in upcoming campaigns.
It was pointed out besides few high-risk pockets of K-P, polio campaigns in the rest of the province yielded satisfactory results.
The meeting directed district health managers to ensure the achievement of polio campaign targets according to measurable performance indicators developed under the National Action Plan. The chair also directed EOC officials and district health officers to personally visit UCs and involve locally-elected representatives to make polio campaigns effective and result-oriented.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 4th, 2016.